What is Aromatharapy and Essential Oils?

Aromatherapy has known a tremendous growth.  It has now become a buzzword, used and abused by

marketers and manufacturers of all types and credentials.  The availability of essential oils and aromatherapy products has increased dramatically through all types of sources and distribution channel, from health food stores to spa and beauty salons or even department stores and pharmacies.  Products with aromatherapy claims (but not much more) can be found in the mass market.

Educational material on the subject is also quite widespread, with new books being published almost every month.  A wide selection of classes is available, from one-day beginner's classes to 2-year graduation programs.  With every increasing media coverage and celebrities swearing by it, aromatherapy is more fashionable than ever.

But aromatherapy is not just a new trend, a new thing to do, as those who are involved in it can testify.  In Europe, where it began more than 60 years ago, aromatherapy is practiced by Medical Doctors, Nurses and other Health Professionals.  It is taught to medical students in France and is used by some English nurses in their hospitals.  Extensive clinical research of aromatherapy is underway, mainly in these countries.

When people first hear about aromatherapy they think about fragrance and perfumes, an alluring world of imagination, magic, and fantasy.  But aromatherapy consists simply of using essential oils for healing.

Essential oils are volatile oily substances; they are highly concentrated vegetal extracts that contain hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, and antiseptics.  In a way, essential oils represent the spirit or soul of the plant.  They are the most concentrated form of herbal energy.  Many plants produce essential oils, which are contained in tiny droplets between cells and play an important role in the biochemistry of the plants.  They are also responsible for the fragrance of the plant.

Essential oils are one of the great untapped resources of the world.  The concentrated essences of various flowers, fruits, herbs, and plants have been used for centuries all over the world, but in modern times we have forgotten the power of these ancient medicines of the earth, preferring instead to use the products of perfume and chemical companies which imitate the natural fragrances and medicinal and cleansing properties of essential oils.  Because the essential oils are so sweet-smelling, many people suppose their value is essentially one of charm and fragrance -- but this is a mistake.  Modern scientific research has proven that essential oils are potent, with remarkable medicinal properties.  Theses substances are very complex in their molecular structure, and very powerful.  The essential oil of oregano, for example, is twenty-six times more powerful as an anticeptic than phenol, which is the active ingredient in many commercial cleansing materials.

Essential oils are used in cosmetics and pharmacy as well as in perfumery.  Their field of activity is quite wide: from deep therapeutic action to extreme subtlety of genuine perfumes.  In aromatherapy, the essential oils can be taken internally in their pure form, diluted in alcohol, mixed with honey, or in medicinal preparations.  They are used externally in frictions (localized massage), massage, and inhalations.  Finally, they are ingredients of numerous cosmetics and perfumes.

Essential oils can have strictly allopathic effects (meaning that they act like regular meicine); more sugle effects like those of Bach flower remedies of homeopathic preparations; and psychological and spiritual effects, which constitute their most traditional use.  They are also powerful antiseptics and antibiotics that are not dangerous for the body.  Aromatherapy is thus, in many cases, an excellent alternative to more aggressive therapies.

Unlike chemical drugs, essential oils do not remain in the body.  They leave no toxins behind.  And essential oils make much more sense as air fresheners than commercial products, as they cleanse the air by altering the structure of the molecules creating the smells, rather than masking the unwanted smells.  When we are looking for alternatives to toxic products in our homes and in our lives, essential oils are a convenient, practical, and pleasant solution. 

Essential oils are the "quintessences" of the alchemists.  In this sense, they condense the spiritual and vital forces of the plants in a material form; this power acts on the biological level to strengthen the natural defenses of the body and is the medium of a direct human - plant communication on the energetic and spiritual plane.

Aromatherapy can be used on many different levels.  Essential oils are extremely versatile materials: they are both medicine and fragrance; they can cure the most severe physical condition and can reach to the depth of our souls.

Also note: There are "nature identical" which are actually synthetic attempt to mimic or copy the natural element.  Knowing that the source of your essential oils is the highest quality, a grade above majority of other essential oils, following the GCMS standards set by clinical studies at research institutions.  Or the purity can be proven in extra advanced testing, showing what others "borrow" in claims, of live human cell active and viable.  Question most marketing claims.  Too often they are simply borrowing what has been released in studies, but not studies that actually used their particular essential oil.  Companies and brands of essential oils have already had compliance issues with the FDA for marketing false claims.  Some companies have had law suites from groups and medical facilities to stop making claims they used that companies oils, or they participated in developing uses of that companies oils.  Companies practicing this form of marketing manipulation of facts or lack of facts, shows no integrity.  There are many essential oils, that are fine for basic perfumery or fragrance enjoyment.  There are good essential oils, using perhaps a source of higher quality yet falling short of any research grade. There are better essential oils, more following a standard of organic or standard of harvesting and processing, known as therapeutic grade (which is only a marketing term without science support).  And then there are the Best essential oils, that follow the clinical studies research standards with their highest GCMS standard, and test more to prove the quality and purity, the live human cell activity.  These are known as "Clinical" grade essential oils.  And even with these quality "claims" some companies will try to claim they are as good, equal to, a medical quality essential oil.  When the truth is, they fall far short, and couldn't pass the stringent tests of proof.  So, considering your purpose for using essential oils, will probably  determine the quality standard you'll be seeking.
The only true clinical grade essential oils available on the market today to the general public, is Ameo.  http://ClinicalGradeEssentialOils.myameo.com